Watch The By-stander Behind You.

 

YPG and YPJ fighters in Kobane. Photo: via Derek Wall / Open Democracy.

        In the broth-pot of factions and power mongers that is the Syrian conflict there are so many interested parties with their own agenda. At least ISIS knows who its enemy is, the Western imperialists know who their enemy is, the Assad regime knows who its enemy is, but the Kurds in Syria, they have to look in all directions, their enemies wave many flags. The Western imperialists are not keen on them getting too strong, Assad would like to see them subjugated within his domain, ISIS would like to wipe them of the face of the planet, but they also have to look at those not openly involved in the power struggle that is decimating the land and the people of Syria.

 This from ANF NEWS:

YPG emplacements east of Hesekê bombed by an unidentified jet

      The General Command of YPG (People's Defense Units) has reported that their emplacements to the east of Hesekê were bombed by an unidentified jet on 19th of February.

Sunday, February 21, 2016 10:30 AM

NEWS DESK - ANF

      The General Command of YPG (People's Defense Units) has reported that their emplacements to the east of Hesekê were bombed by an unidentified jet on 19th of February.
      According to the statement, the YPG emplacements in the area of Hekil Tişrîn were attacked by an unidentified military jet at around 09:30 of 19th February.
       While the jet continued flying over the mentioned area for half an hour, it hit the YPG emplacements firstly with hand grenades then with bullets, which left 3 YPG fighters dead and 2 others wounded.
       A committee of investigation formed after the incident continues its analysis of the unexploded hand grenades fired by the jet in order to find out to which state the jet belongs. YPG said they knew that the jet was not affiliated to the international coalition formed against ISIS.
       YPG stressed that they will treat the attack as a hostile approach and adopt a stance accordingly.

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Rojava From The Inside.

      To know what is really going on in Syria at the moment is very difficult as each faction puts its own spin on the events that are being played out in that unfortunate and blood sodden land. To those who seek real democratic change, the area known as Rojava is of the most interest. Whatever is going on there, it appears that they are not trying to fashion a new nation state, but an alternative bottom up form of of community living. Which of course would be a breath of fresh air in that part of the world which has been sliced and diced by imperialist ambitions for generations. So any information from anybody on the ground in that area, is always very welcome.

This article is from Project Muse:

       The Kurdish movement takes every opportunity to espouse that they are not in the business of creating a new state for the Kurds, and a deep critique of the nation-state is quite prevalent in the recent writings of Öcalan. In his widely read 5th Defense “The Kurdish Problem and the Democratic Nation Solution”, he elaborates that “The greatest weapon which capitalism has to make itself the reigning system is to turn state power into a nation-state power. The nation-state is possible by spreading its power to the capillaries of society…. The national borders, the national army, the centralized civilian bureaucracy, central and local administration, the national market, monopoly economic domination, national currency, passport, national identity, national places of worship, primary schools, a single language, symbols of flags, all of these come together to operate capitalism’s maximum profit rule over society. This process, defined by modern sociologists as a way of overcoming traditional societies and presented as the formation of modern homogenous societies and the primary indicator of progress, in essence, represents a society locked in an iron cage.”3
         This is the ideology at battle in a region where many nation-states are involved in a civil war and where the Kurds are having to make uncomfortable alliances for mere survival. Flowing from this proclaimed statelessness and emphasis of autonomy, many anarchists and libertarian communists have begun to identify with the revolution in Rojava. Various leftist factions have argued over the anti-capitalist and anti-state credentials of what is happening in Rojava, and in some ways Rojava can resemble more the latter than the former. Regardless, based on my own experiences and observations in Rojava, it is obvious that the sentiment captured by the quote at the onset of this article is real and that the challenges of a revolution lie beyond the trenches. This brief essay will attempt to contribute to this discussion.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

       

Colnbrook, A Prison For The Innocent.

      Separated from family and friends, isolated from friendly contact, in a foreign land, and suicidal, it would seem only human to offer comfort, compassion and understanding. However among us are those who in "doing their duty" are nothing more than sadistic, psychopathic, dehumanised brutes. Behind closed doors the obedient "duty-doers" spawn misery, physical and mental cruelty and death, what stories do they go home and tell their families? If it looks like a prison, acts like prison, then it is a prison, not a "detention centre".

This from Act For Freedom Now:

       Yesterday (Wednesday 17 February) in the early morning a man named Amir died in his cell in Colnbrook detention centre, one of the UK’s migration prisons near Heathrow Airport, managed by outsourcing corporation Mitie.
       Mitie and the Home Office are saying very little, apart from stating that he was on suicide watch. (See article from “politics.co.uk” here.) But prisoners have a lot more to tell about how he was killed: abused, humiliated, drugged and then denied medical treatment by screws and collaborating medical staff. The account below was posted today on the Detained Voices website, which transmits messages from those inside the UK’s migration prisons.

NB: Healthcare (sic) at Colnbrook is run by CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust), which is run by these people.
It took him three weeks to get like this while he was here, and he died.
      That guy he came about three weeks ago. He came and they put him straight in the health care centre. Room three. Since when he came the officers watch him for 24 hours a day, maybe because he said he was going to kill himself. When someone says they are going to kill himself they are watched the whole day, everywhere they go.
      For the first week, week and a half he was fine. Then he was sleeping and snoring too much. He slept long hours. I believe the medication they gave him was not the right medication. Yesterday about 6:30 in the afternoon he came in from the yard, for the fresh air, with three officers and he was vomiting. The officer said he was an idiot. He was not an idiot, he was sick. Either from the medication or food poisoning. The officer said the nurse knows better. But the nurse didn’t know better.
       The officer she denied him everything, all night. He died in her name and on her neck. I promise in the name of Allah he died in the hands of that woman. Mr ****** died because she refused to call the nurse again. The nurse only came twice. When she came out she said ‘don’t call me again’. The officers complied with that.
         In the medical centre there is a room for each person. He was in number three. The nurse and doctor here are denying everything. There was an officer watching him 24 hours. The doctor came for five minutes. ‘Hello, hello, hello’ to everyone and then he leave. At 6 o’clock Mr ****** had some medication. Went out into the yard and then he was vomiting. I believe that medication make him sick. He came back in and his snoring wasn’t right after that. I said to them to check him because he wasn’t sounding right and I thought he might have a heart attack or something. I was told to look after myself and not worry about anyone else.
      About 1 o’clock in the night I heard him screaming because he couldn’t breath. She said to him – the officer told him to stop panicking and go to sleep. How can he sleep when he is coughing and vomiting and he can’t breath?
        They say he killed himself. That is not right. I’ll tell you how. He had nothing in his room. He wasn’t allowed to move from his bed, get some water or go to the toilet without someone watching him. He had no razor. If he wanted to shave they give him an electric razor and anyway he didn’t shave the whole time he was here because he had a big beard.
         He was vomiting because of food or medication. When he came to this centre he was fit. It took him three weeks to get like this while he was here, and he died. I saw his face it was all red and he couldn’t breath. Everyone is denying everything in here. 6:30 in the afternoon exactly till 4 o’clock in the morning till he died.
        6 o’clock the police come here in the morning. They open our door at 8 o’clock in the morning. In the morning they don’t want me to talk to the police and they take me out of the centre to outside and when they let me back at 12 noon they lock me in my room immediately so I can’t talk to the police. The doctor and the nurse was not allowed to come in to the centre. The police were taking photos of his room. They came at 6 in the morning and left at 2 in the afternoon. Thats when they opened the doors again and I saw them leave.
       The officers watching him, they changed every one hour. They moved between watching him and behind the desk.
The officer, she said to someone in another room ‘I’m not going to give you anything. Im going to give you punishment.’ He is going to die soon, he will try kill himself, he gets a lot of punishment from her. I don’t hear his voice in the day, he is very quiet usually, only when she is here he screams and shouts all the time. She wants to give him hassle and he has cut himself too many times, all over his face. You wouldn’t recognise him from the person that came in. He is unwell and she makes him more unwell. Always screaming and shouting – he smashed the door on his hands and legs. She makes him crazy, more crazy. Officers get paid to look after us. They lock us behind the door like the devil and treat us so bad. I’ve never seen this in my life. Me, I never ask her for anything because I know the result.
         I asked the officer how Mr ****** died and he said he killed himself. I asked how he killed himself when he is watched the whole time? He said he kept his pills and took them all at once. That’s not possible. We are given our pills by the nurse with a glass of water and they wait till we have swallowed them all. These nurses are really experienced, they know when you have pills still in your mouth. I have five pills and I was swallowing them with the water and one didn’t go down. The nurse, they waited there till the last one went down. It is like they are in your mouth – they know what is going on in there. Mr ****** couldn’t have kept all the pills. It was the pills that was making him sleep so much and snore like that. I am very sorry what happened to Mr ******. He was a very gentle man, really.

And a letter from a survivor of Colnbrook:

 Dear Colnbrook,
        I’ve got a few questions for you in relation to the three and a half months you held me in detention.
      Why were the Officers at the induction unit so mean and unwelcoming to me? I remember asking for a bed sheet and was given a pillow case. I remember asking for a tooth brush and waiting patiently for over 72 hours. I was treated harshly and spoken to rudely. Were you trying to give me a terrible first impression of Colnbrook, or did that just happen by mistake?
        Why was my asylum claim treated in isolation to my family asylum claim? I claimed asylum as part of a family but was detained and dumped at Colnbrook all by myself. Were you just trying to scare me because I was so young?
        Why did you only tell me I was on the Detained Fast Track after ten days of being on it? I hear it has been abolished now for being unlawful. Did you know how unfair and unjust it was when you put me on it? Every day, I watched your staff go home to their safe beds, and to their families, and then return the next morning. How did they live with that knowing what we were going through?
Why were we locked up in the room from 9pm to 8am every day? What was the point of this? Where were we going to go? Up and over the barbed wire? What message are you trying to send to the people they detain?
        The officers at Colnbrook would always say ‘this is a high-security detention centre’. It wasn’t. It was a high security prison. I even had PRISON NUMBER printed in bold on the front page of my medical report. And yet, I have no criminal record, I haven’t committed a crime. I guess my question is, despite this, did you see me as a criminal?
        I saw an old man in his late seventies with a walking stick. I saw a guy who had just had a major operation who struggled to pick up his medication. There was a survivor of torture, covered in scars. I heard people screaming at night because they were going mad inside in Colnbrook. What exactly is your definition of ‘vulnerable’ if you are detaining these kinds of people?
       I prefer to call ‘Healthcare’ in Colnbrook, the ‘Inhuman Treatment Centre’. Are the staff there medically trained? Are they aware of medical ethics? Do you know that once I was given the wrong medication, complained of dizziness, and the doctor checked my medication and after 5 mins told me “yes, sorry the nurse gave you the wrong medication.” Really?! Do you know how many times I left ‘Healthcare’ with tears running down my cheeks simply because I was terrified I’ve been given the wrong medication again?
        Do you think you’d be able to talk about your problems with someone who is doing everything they can to tell you they don’t like you?
        Why are the nurses at Colnbrook so quick to dispense medications before listening to the patients, acting like they already knew what was wrong with them? I ended up feeling that their evil was intentional and a calculated attempt to terminate my life or create complications for me.
         Were the staff in Colnbrook told to try and make my life, and the lives of my family, an agony? Were they just following orders?
Why was I given the opportunity to work and earn £1 an hour in Colnbrook but now that I am out of detention, I have automatically been stripped off this same right?
        I met lots of people who had lost hope because they didn’t know when they were getting out. Is this why you don’t have a time-limit? So that people give up?
        Even though I’ve been out now for two months, do you know I still have panic attack every time I think about the horror I went through in your detention centre? Three weeks ago I almost fainted at the police station where I usually sign, just because I saw two immigration officers walking towards me. In that moment, I thought I was going to be arrested. I thought I was going to see you again.
        Goodbye Colnbrook. I hope I can clear your horror from my memory. I hope we never meet again.
Yours,
John.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Lost My Smart Phone, How Can I Live!!

       It may be strange to use social media to ask, is social media playing to dominant a part in our lives? Are we being shaped by social media rather than our own experiences? By sitting and responding to what we are fed on social media, we actually believe we are doing something, we feel we belong, we are involved, but the world is still out there made up of real people doing real things. I personally still believe that on the street handing out your paper or leaflets is the best way to reach people, you are meeting people who are outside your own little circle. Perhaps I'm old fashioned.

Thought this was an interesting article from It's Going Down:

        In the 90s, there was a kind of rowdy spirit of anarchism that I often felt like Profane Existence kind of typified. Building through the late 90s that started to transition towards this Crimethinc. styled personal revolution. I feel like that kind of paved the way towards blogs and social media: a focus on the individual over the ideas. That flows directly into what praxis looks like and action falls by the wayside.

         In hindsight, it almost looks like this master plan: channelling this voracious, rowdy movement into online posturing. Whether that was the goal or not, who knows, but it echoes through civilization at large. There’s unquestionable intention in creating the social media world but I don’t want to sound convoluted in thinking it was aimed at anarchists, it just turns out that it worked out the same. No doubt something that would be considered an added bonus from the eyes of the State.
        So you have the interplay of two things: the rise of repression and the rise of social media. In my eyes, it was the combination of the two that really decimated this milieu. In some regards, it could very well die on Facebook. Everything becomes so absolutely personal in nature and so tied to the individual that we lose the ability to even think about these ideas as existing in their own merit. You don’t have arguments: you just have reactions. So you go round and round with the same argument, but it doesn’t matter. What is being said matters less than who is saying it.
        That opens the door for a ramp up in oppression politics to further those divides. The ideas and the drive are what suffer. Arguments replace discourse. Praxis becomes impossible. So when everyone who laid low in the mid-00s started coming back around and saw what the “anarchist milieu” currently looks like, they just kept moving. Why wouldn’t they? We’ve just opened ourselves up to external influences to the point where repression, by and large, isn’t even complicated. A couple Facebook profiles and the State can just undermine anything.
       So long as we use social media as the platform for communication, then we have no ground to stand on. No traction, no hope for meaningful dialogue and certainly not any kind of engagement. Having a critique of technology or capitalism doesn’t make you exempt from its consequences. Get off of social media is definitely my weakest call to action, but it’s sadly a necessary one. If we want to move forward, we have to recognize this.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

State Attempted Assassination Of A Theatre.

       While the people of Greece feel the full frontal attack on their conditions, from the financial Mafia, the Greek state does what all states do, come down hard on all self-organising by the people. People organising their own lives is the death-knell of the state, so will not be tolerated. Self-help squats are shut down, no matter how they serve the people.

      The Embros Theatre is the latest to feel the pressure from the Greek state. From a derelict building in 2011 to putting a variety of independent performances by a myriad of artists, it has grown in popularity and has widening support. Now however, it seems that it is the cross-hairs of the state, and is threatened with closure, having its electricity turned off. This theatre project has gone in five years, from a rebirth, to a vibrant life, to an attempted state assassination. According to state dictate, the will of the people must be silenced.

This from Void Network:

       More than 2500 people supported the great benefit concert of Void Network in Occupied Theater Embros in Athens, for the solidarity to the refugees movement infrastructures in Exarchia and Lesbos island in 13/2/2016. Two days after the Greek state attacked to Embros cutting electricity.
      The assemblies of people are in daily base in defense to the occupation and we invite you all to support occupied theater Embros in all possible ways. We Invite all those who comprehend the actions of Embros in cultural and political sphere as a part of the constant autonomous struggle for Free Space and Time, for a world without State and Fascism, all those who took part in all solidarity events and hundreds of actions in Embros, all those who believe that Embros is something worthwhile to fight for, honoring your own class consciousness and class solidarity, the struggles of our times and the coming community of Equality and Freedom of our own Future, not the future that plans for all of us the contemporary Totalitarianism all around the world! // VOID NETWORK  

What is The Occupied Embros Theatre:

       It was November 2011 when the lights were turned on again at the Embros Theatre, a historical building in the Psirri district of Athens that remained abandoned for 5 years as the Ministry of Culture let it fall into disrepair. In an attempt to bring it back to life, a group of theatre artists and theorists known as the “Mavili Collective” coordinated a 12-day series of talks, discussions and performances that were open to the public. Scholars and artists from various disciplines were invited together to challenge the dominant market-led consensus and embrace an alternative model of collective management, introducing new forms of creative work.

       Psirri used to be a working class district dominated by small scale craft industries and families who didn’t move to the suburbs as the 1970s urban trend dictated. The area went through a process of gentrification that intensified in 2004 when Athens hosted the Olympic Games. Old industrial buildings were either converted into nightclubs or remained vacant. Restaurants and bars sprung up like mushrooms whilst small vintage shops became a “must-visit” destination for the hipster crowd. The influx of migrants and the grim effects of austerity made Psirri an area of contradictions where it was common to see young middle class people having drinks while migrants searched for food in trash bins just a few blocks away.------

Continue reading:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

It was November 2011 when the lights were turned on again at the Embros Theatre, a historical building in the Psirri district of Athens that remained abandoned for 5 years as the Ministry of Culture let it fall into disrepair. In an attempt to bring it back to life, a group of theatre artists and theorists known as the “Mavili Collective” coordinated a 12-day series of talks, discussions and performances that were open to the public. Scholars and artists from various disciplines were invited together to challenge the dominant market-led consensus and embrace an alternative model of collective management, introducing new forms of creative work.

Psirri used to be a working class district dominated by small scale craft industries and families who didn’t move to the suburbs as the 1970s urban trend dictated. The area went through a process of gentrification that intensified in 2004 when Athens hosted the Olympic Games. Old industrial buildings were either converted into nightclubs or remained vacant. Restaurants and bars sprung up like mushrooms whilst small vintage shops became a “must-visit” destination for the hipster crowd. The influx of migrants and the grim effects of austerity made Psirri an area of contradictions where it was common to see young middle class people having drinks while migrants searched for food in trash bins just a few blocks away.

- See more at: http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=12836#sthash.Nia74Zwa.dpuf

It was November 2011 when the lights were turned on again at the Embros Theatre, a historical building in the Psirri district of Athens that remained abandoned for 5 years as the Ministry of Culture let it fall into disrepair. In an attempt to bring it back to life, a group of theatre artists and theorists known as the “Mavili Collective” coordinated a 12-day series of talks, discussions and performances that were open to the public. Scholars and artists from various disciplines were invited together to challenge the dominant market-led consensus and embrace an alternative model of collective management, introducing new forms of creative work.

Psirri used to be a working class district dominated by small scale craft industries and families who didn’t move to the suburbs as the 1970s urban trend dictated. The area went through a process of gentrification that intensified in 2004 when Athens hosted the Olympic Games. Old industrial buildings were either converted into nightclubs or remained vacant. Restaurants and bars sprung up like mushrooms whilst small vintage shops became a “must-visit” destination for the hipster crowd. The influx of migrants and the grim effects of austerity made Psirri an area of contradictions where it was common to see young middle class people having drinks while migrants searched for food in trash bins just a few blocks away.

- See more at: http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=12836#sthash.Nia74Zwa.dpuf

Failed Citizens' Arrest Of Kissinger.

       Still on Kissinger, I remember when this protest took place, pity they didn't get him arrested. More power to the women of Code Pink. Thanks Loam for the info.

     http://democracynow.org - Activists from the antiwar group CodePink attempted to perform a citizens arrest on former secretary of state Henry Kissinger when he testified on global security challenges at a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on Thursday. Kissinger served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor during the Vietnam War under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain lashed out at the protesters and called on the Capitol Hill Police to remove them.         Video Published on Jan 30, 2015

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Kissinger's Blood Soaked Hands.

         All of us who have watched Henry Kissinger's psycho shuttle through the years 1969-77, have no doubt in our minds that he was in cahoots with some of the most brutal and despicable regimes on the planet. Friend of military juntas, companion of dictators, he helped shape the size of the world's blood lakes. We all accepted that his hand was giving its blessing to the savage repression of the Argentinian people under the military junta of 1976-83, era, known as Argentina's dirty war. A period when in excess of 30,000 people "disappeared" in Argentina, at the hands of the regime and its hit squads. 

      With the complicity of silence among all but a handful within the Argentine population, the military regime undertook widespread kidnappings, torture, and murder — not only of the violent guerrilla left but also of the nonviolent leftist political activists, their sympathizers, and their families. The war against subversion was viewed within the military's National Security Doctrine as the beginning of "World War III," which it defined as a struggle against the efforts of communism for world supremacy. In three years as many as 30,000 Argentines were killed.

       Where was Pope Francis during this brutal period, as usual, the church sits at the side of the power mongers, handing out blessings.

      Now it seems, papers have come to light that prove Kissinger's complicity in this vicious period of repression.

The memo recounts Hill describing the Kissinger-Guzzetti discussion this way:

The Argentines were very worried that Kissinger would lecture to them on human rights. Guzzetti and Kissinger had a very long breakfast but the Secretary did not raise the subject. Finally Guzzetti did. Kissinger asked how long will it take you (the Argentines) to clean up the problem. Guzzetti replied that it would be done by the end of the year. Kissinger approved.

In other words, Ambassador Hill explained, Kissinger gave the Argentines the green light.

Read the full article HERE:

      Just one of the many dirty deals engineered, approved, or ignored, to let the festering brutality continue, as long as it suited American foreign policy. Kissinger quotes can give an insight to his way of thinking, these are just a few from Wikiquotes:

        Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world. 

       The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

       It is an act of insanity and national humiliation to have a law prohibiting the President from ordering assassination. 

        "Whatever may be done to guard against interruptions of supply and to develop domestic alternatives, the U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries. That fact gives the U.S. enhanced interest in the political, economic, and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population pressures through reduced birth rates can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resource supplies and to the economic interests of the United States."

 A few of the faces of the 30,000 "disappeared".

       Kissinger is just typical of the type of individual we hand power to, to shape our lives, and it is all done in the interest of that small cabal of power hungry billionaires. Their success is dependent on our acquiescence, our subservience, our humble, silent obedience. Perhaps the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the selfish and greedy people, but the silent acceptance by the good people. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Need For A Declartion Of War.

      For the ordinary people of the world to bring about justice and freedom for all, they will have to wake up and accept the fact that we are at war, the war that will end all wars, the class war. Without accepting that fact, we will continue to be mired in the wars, misery, poverty and injustice, which for us, are the only fruits of the capitalist system. 

     The following written by my friend and comrade, John, states the case very clearly:

DECLARATION OF WAR.

      There is a ferocious war being waged in our Society today, but it is not a War fought with guns and bullets or tanks and aeroplanes, and the enemy is not some invading army or outside threat.
    The weapons used in this war are the policies and actions of Government departments and civil servants, and the victims in this war are working class people.
     And although there are no guns or bullets, the War is just as deadly in terms of casualties. But these casualties aren’t on both sides; the casualties are all from the ranks of the working class.
     This is a CLASS WAR. The ruling elite through the medium of the Capitalist system controls and exploits the working class.
     The Government wages this one – sided War against working class people in a number of ways. It attacks and destroys the lives of disabled and unemployed people by depriving them of their benefits through the criminal actions of the DWP and their hired mercenaries Atos and Maximus, and attacks those in work with anti Union legislation to ensure a compliant, unresisting and underpaid workforce.

     Do you doubt this? Do you doubt that a Class War exists and is taking place in our society? Well the rich and privileged have no such doubts. This is what Warren Buffett investor, billionaire and one of the ten richest people in the World said in 2005, “The rich class - is waging class warfare on the rest of Society.” And again in 2006 “There’s class warfare alright, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and were winning.”
     So even if ordinary people do not know of the Class War or doubt if it even exists, the rich are perfectly clear about it.
     The reason this is a one sided war is that many working class people have not yet begun to fight back. Many had supposed that by voting against the Tories this would be enough. They had assumed that their jobs and rights at work were being protected by their Trade Unions. And the reality is that this is not the case. The Labour Party and the Trade Unions have proven to be no defence in this war

Who are the people waging this war?

     This Class War is a war waged by the rich and privileged against the poor and powerless; it is a war between the “Haves” and the “Have Nots”
     This war was not started by working class people, but by the ruling elite; big business, multi-national companies, the Arms trade and so on. Their aims are carried out by privileged Tory MP’s who receive (earn would be the wrong word) £74,000 per year and about the same in expenses - plus all they can steal on top of that!
     So while ordinary men, women and children struggle to make ends meet, these pillars of the Establishment - the majority of them privately educated at elite Universities, these honourable Gentlemen and Ladies, these crooks, thieves and liars in the Houses of Parliament, use the farce of “democracy” to scheme and dictate how we should be governed and controlled in the interests of Global Capitalism.
     Anyone who participates in this charade of Parliamentary Democracy is an enemy of working class people. Not only does it perpetuate the myth that everyone is equal and that by voting every four years or so we are part of this great democratic structure, it is also the means by which violence is perpetrated on working class people. While big businesses and corporations receive any amount of public money and are virtually allowed to pay whatever amount of tax they choose – if any, - working class people are subjected to the violence of homelessness, the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and sanctions, foodbanks, inadequate wages and poor living conditions, which make it almost impossible to survive.
     And many don’t survive. Statistics released by the DWP state that during the period between December 2011 and February 2014 2,380 people died after being denied benefits through being found “fit for work.” Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that suicides have reached a ten year high and are linked with welfare “reforms.”
     The situation is so bad that DWP staff have been given “guidance” on how to deal with suicidal benefit claimants! The Sunday Herald reported on the 25th of August 2015 that workers had been issued with a six point plan on how to deal with people denied benefits who appear to be suicidal. Staff at call centres have been instructed to allow rejected claimants to talk about their intention to kill themselves.
    All the laws relating to the above are passed by our so - called elected representatives, and enforced with all the might of the State through the Police and if necessary the Military. If the working class organise to fight back against these injustices, we are the ones who are labelled violent and criminal.

     It is not us who are violent; the violence is inherent in the system that is used to control us. Every act of institutionalised violence directed at working class people is backed up by the Law. The Law is not there to serve working class people: it is a weapon, an instrument of control to be used against us; it is there to maintain and increase the power of the State.
     Labour MP’s or any other “left” MP’s – even if they voted against certain laws are still participating in this violence against the working class – as are any of the agencies and individuals who carry out their policies.
    Some ordinary workers can also wittingly or otherwise act against the interests of their class. Often, out of economic necessity they have taken on jobs that act against the interest of their fellow workers. Capitalism relishes this; it divides working class people and so furthers the interest of the Capitalist system.
     In 1886, a financier and railroad developer called Jay Gould said “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”
     Workers, trade unionists in G4S, in Jobcentres or in any potentially repressive occupation really need to re-assess their position. On no account should they impose hardship on members of their class. The Trade Unions should be very specific on this: they need to educate and instruct their members to refuse to participate in carrying out actions which have a detrimental effect on our class.
    How likely is it that Trade Union leaders will jeopardise their well paid positions by leading any kind of revolt? How likely is it that “left wing” MP’s are going to risk losing their cushy numbers to support a fight against unjust laws? The answer has to be – not bloody likely! These MP’s and Trade Union leaders have more in common with the bosses than they do with the workers.
    Working class people need to become aware of this Class War being waged against us. We have to understand that we have nothing in common with the ruling class. They have not the slightest concern for working class people. The poor, disabled and homeless are an inconvenience to them; they would be happy if the poor in society went away to die quietly and uncomplainingly in some secluded dark corner.
     They see the unemployed and poor as a burden, and their laws and sanctions are used as a form of social cleansing.
     They want a society based purely on the pursuit of profit; the concept of fairness and equality has no place in their thinking.
    This is why they wage a Class War against us. This is why they seek to eliminate anyone who does not have the capacity to be a wage slave.

     The interests of the Working Class and the Ruling Class are diametrically opposed. They want a world controlled by a few for their own selfish ends, - we want a world where the needs of all are met equally. They want a world of oppression and fear, - we want a world without fear, hunger, homelessness, and one in which everyone has the opportunity to lead a happy and fulfilled life.

 Don’t be a willing victim in their Class War, -

 join us and fight back.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The State Is Brutal, Authoritarian And Repressive.

        All states are brutal, authoritarian and repressive, some more brutal, authoritarian and repressive than others. However they all must be challenged when ever and where ever they exercise these inhumane traits, borders should not stop our solidarity with victims of any of these brutal, authoritarian and repressive state actions.

  This from Labour Start: 

      People all over the world were shocked and saddened to learn of the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni, a young academic who was in Egypt to research the situation of independent trade unions. 
      As Kamal Abbas, an Egyptian labour leader, has written: "The announcement of Giulio's death came after 10 days of his disappearance. The condition in which the body was found reveals that Giulio was murdered viciously and was subjected to monstrous torture before his death. This caused international outrage."
      There have been open letters and online campaigns from Giulio's academic colleagues.
      We in the trade union movement are also demanding answers from the Egyptian government, and the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for this horrific crime.
Please take a moment to support the LabourStart campaign:
http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2953
http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2953
      After you've sent off your message, please share this with you friends, family and fellow union members.
Thank you!

Eric Lee

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Excessive Arrests, All Part of The Exploitative System.

      Scotland is a small country with a population of roughly 5 million, so in the scale of things, all our institutions should likewise show that smallness. For example our courts should be among the smallest in Europe, but surprise, surprise, Glasgow's Sheriff Court is the busiest in Europe. What a bunch of nasty criminals we must be!! It appears the oor wee Glesca court processes around 2,000 nasties a day. Are we really that criminal a bunch, or is the system simply trying to screw us to the deck with greater enthusiasm than the rest of Europe does with their citizens? 

    Not only is it the busiest court in Europe, but it seems to be the most degrading with foul conditions for those being held in its cages. Women seem to come of worst, according to the recent report by David Strang, HM chief inspector of prisons, who states, female prisoners kept in the holding cells at Europe’s busiest court are forced to endure “degrading and inhumane” conditions, ---"a lack of privacy for female inmates who must walk past unscreened male toilets that were “odorous and clearly visible from the hallway”. Corton Vale Women's Prison also comes in for some nasty criticism. 

    In this system of capitalism, conditions for those arrested are away down the priority list, if they will cut the benefits to the disabled, you can only guess what priority they give to those they deem to be the scourge of their lucrative little scam. You can forget that crap about innocent until proved guilty, arrested, you are treated like a second class citizen, your conditions are of no concern to the lords and masters, rulers of the system.

    No matter where you look, our conditions are on the way down, from over crowed prisons, excessive arrests, social services being trashed, benefits being cut, benfit sanctions, workfare slave labour, employment conditions dropping ever closer to third world conditions, public spaces disappearing into the domain of the corporate world, public assets being sold off to the financial Mafia at knock-down prices, and so it goes on. If you don't recognise this as class war, and we are losing, then you're not paying attention. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History, Spirit of Revolt Additions

       We've been very busy at Spirit of Revolt Archive, we always are, but recently we have had a wee marathon of work. Three new additions to our website, one is some drawings by Henri-Gabriel Ibels taken from the anarchist paper Le Pere Peinard, they can be viewed HERE: The book is part of our John Cooper Collection

       The next item is for those who missed our recent exhibition on the Rent Strike 1915, 100 Years On, held in the Mitchell Library, during the month of November, you can now read details of the exhibition with photos. The exhibition proved to be very popular and had a catalogue of wonderful comments from the public, who found it both interesting and informative. It also proved to be a stimulant for chat, stories, and questions about our history. So have a look and enjoy the exhibition you thought you had missed.

       The third item we have added to the website is one that I am rather proud of, not that I'm not proud of our entire archive, but that people can learn from it, is I think you'll agree, very important. We have added an educational workshop module on Glasgow's Rent Strike 1915, suitable for schools. It is called Understanding Solidarity Through The Glasgow Rent Strike 1915. It is available free for download as a PDF HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

The Three-In-One Explained, By Dave Allen.

        A wonderful way of attacking dogmatic rubbish is ridicule, and who does it better than Dave Allen, Thanks Loam for reminding me of this one.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk